If you teach in the UK, US, Canada or Brazil, we have some fantastic news for you! Thanks to QFI and the British Council, until 2nd March educators can bring NaTakallam to their classroom, totally for free.

NaTakallam connects displaced people, primarily Syrian refugees, with students around the world to provide affordable, flexible and tailored language practice over Skype. More than just a language class, NaTakallam offers an immersive and experiential learning experience. Aline Sara, CEO and founder, explains “Learning a language isn’t just learning another language, it’s learning another culture – it’s a window into the world! It’s empowering for us as individuals, it opens doors, even work opportunities, it also fosters more empathy and social abilities based on a number of stories.”

As well as learning the Arabic language, some classes are making the most of NaTakallam to talk with displaced people via Skype and hear their stories directly, bringing the issue of forced migration to life and helping the student to contextualize and understand the issue more deeply. This type of learning can also be an opportunity to explore empathy and promote responsible global citizenship, particularly important now as the world is seeing the worst refugee crisis since World War II.

NaTakallam can also bring Arabic culture direct to your classroom. Mona, a Syrian Conversation Partner working with a US school even sings Happy Birthday in Arabic to the students!

The impact for your students could be immeasurable, all while bringing an income to people impacted by displacement and restriction on employment. So far, over 1,500 people have engaged in more than 13,000 hours of conversation and refugee Conversation Partners have generated over 150,000 USD through their incredible work on the platform.